"What's your major?'
"Say your name, major, and a fun fact about yourself."
These are two of some of the most common phrases that the typical college student hears constantly.
Usually after one declares his or her major they are faced with a variety of responses. Some of these responses include: Wow you'll make a lot of money, what kind of job are you going to get with that, oh that's an interesting major, and finally, you must be really smart!
For some reason, one's major is his or her defining aspect in life and especially college. Picking a major is made into a huge deal that causes stress and anxiety for college students. It has become taboo to go into college without a declared major, even though most people end up changing their major. For example, freshman year of college I was a Nutrition major but made a dramatic switch to Finance after the first semester.
So much stress is put into picking a major that is supposed to lead to a job in that field that you are bound to for the rest of your life. Many times my friends and I have had conversations about what fields we want to go into in the future and if our majors are right for us. Frankly, I believe that so much pressure is put on college students to pick the "right" major that people start to convince themselves that a major isn't right because they're not over the moon excited about every single class they have to take in their curriculum.
During my time in the Disney College Program, I took seminars and had the chance to go to a few networking events with executives from the companies. This experience completely changed my view on college and my declared major. During these events and Q&A panels, every person said what degree they had and what was their position with the Walt Disney World Company. What everyone soon noticed was that for about 80% of these people, the major and the degree that they had didn't perfectly line up with the position they were in. For example, one of the women I talked to held a position in Marketing but her degree was in Public Relations. Another person I talked to worked with the data analytics department but had a Mathematics degree. Although their positions and their degrees aren't far out of the same realm, I learned that just because my degree says Finance does not mean I will only be able to get a job in the Finance field. Personally, I'm very interested in social media analytics and would love a job in that field. Hearing other people's career stories reassured me that my major does not define my future career.
So next time you get the dreaded "What is your major?" question you don't need to reevaluate your whole life.
